Moonlight
by inSANITYweT.R.U.S.T
Summary: Hinata is sold as a child, and Toshiro watches his mother's murder. As young teenagers, they meet through a twist of fate, and an old, black-clad enemy reappears. "I don't know why, but we're speical, Hyuuga...we can't let them get us." AU ON HOLD
1. Prologue

_"Toshiro! Toshiro, you must wake! Toshiro!"_

_Slowly, the young boy opened his blue-green eyes, and his sight was consumed by the face of his mother, and she was deathly pale. Her blue eyes were burning with an emotion Toshiro didn't recognize, and her slender fingers were digging almost painfully into his shoulders as she shook him, and her snowy white hair was cascading wildly over her shoulders. _

_"Kaa-chan?" Toshiro mumbled in a sleepy voice, and he rubbed his eyes, even as his mother tugged him out of bed and onto his feet. "What's wrong?"_

_"Listen to me, Toshiro. We have to go." His mother, Sayuki, whispered, and she knelt down in front of him, so their eyes were level. Toshiro was getting a little worried now, his rapidly waking mind absorbing the scenery; all the candles had been blown out and the bamboo shutters were drawn, and Sayuki's futon was sprawled out on the ground, littered with wrinkles, and the blanket had been tossed carelessly aside. His mother was a very tidy person. He couldn't understand why she's throw it about like that._

_"Kaa-chan?" He repeated, and his voice was growing higher with anxiety._

_"Relax, Toshiro. It's okay." She purred, and she stroked his cheek, lovingly brushing some silvery hair out of his eyes. "We just have to go right now. Okay?"_

_"Why?" He asked sadly. "I don't want to go. Where's Tou-kun?"_

_"Daddy's busy," Sayuki said after a moment, but there was something about her voice that made Toshiro nervous._

_"Where's Tou-kun? Kaa-chan, where is he?"_

_"Toshiro-"  
><em>

_**CRASH**_

/

_Hinata was confused. She couldn't understand why her uncle was yelling, or why her mother was crying, or why her father was standing stock still. They trading words in the living room, and the silky folds of her mother's kimono were becoming drenched with her tears as they ran freely down her face and dripped of her chin. Her uncle, Hizashi, was red in the face and screaming words Hinata couldn't understand at her father, Hiashi, who accepted what must have been verbally abuse without so much as a twitch. Hinata was hidden behind the sliding door, and she was peering through a paper-thin gap, and her tiny fingers were curled around the wood._

_All of a sudden, the door to their home burst home, and Hizashi jumped back and reached for his sword, but Hiashi's hand lashed out and knocked it away. A person wearing a heavy black traveller's clock stepped through the door and, after a quick glance at Hiashi and his twin, stalked across the room and flung open the very door Hinata was hiding behind._

_Hinata stumbled backwards with a squeak, startled by the man's abrupt movements, and cried out as he roughly snatched her arm and shoved her towards the door._

_"No!" Haru, Hinata's mother, shrieked, and she leapt to her feet and charged at the stranger, but Hiashi caught her waist and held her still, despite her violent thrashing. Hizashi dived at the stranger, also, but another stranger suddenly appeared and punched him hard in the face, and, his grey eyes rolling in their sockets, Hizashi fell, his body slapping against the polished floorboards, unconscious._

_/_

_"Kaa-chan! Who were they?" Toshiro shouted over the rushing of the wind as it billowed through their clothing, their hair, and the thunderous footfalls of the horse he and his mother were riding. Sayuki did not reply, and instead steered the horse into an abrupt turn and sent then racing down a rocky, dusty road, and Toshiro clung desperately to his mother's kimono, confused and scared._

_Then Toshiro heard something that made his blood turn to ice and, glancing frantically over his shoulder, he saw several muscular horses charging after them, and all the mounts wore jet-black clocks that flapped wildly in the wind._

_"Kaa-chan!" Toshiro yelled. "They're after us!"_

_Sayuki cursed, and, with a cry, kicked her horse's sides, and instantly their speed increased, and they thundered off down the path, but the black-clad figures were not to be out done. As one, they forced their horses to improve the pace, and they began to gain an alarming amount of ground. Sayuki gritted her teeth and glared daggers at the figures, and then grouped around in the obi sashed tied about her waist._

_"Toshiro! Throw this at the road!" She commanded, and she carefully handed him several palm-sized orange balls, and, with a confused glance at his mother, Toshiro did as instructed. And the second the balls came in contact with the ground, they exploded into a suffocating mist that engulfed the trail in a matter of seconds, and the following riders came shrieking to a halt, their horses bucking and wailing in fright._

_Toshiro stared back in astonishment._

_Sayuki flicked the reigns, and the horse spirited around a corner, and vanished into the leafy darkness of the forest._

_/_

_Hinata fought weakly as her small wrists were bound and her mouth was gagged, and began to weep openly as she watched Haru claw furiously at her husband, and Hizashi twitch limply on the floor. Hinata was flung unceremoniously over the stranger's shoulder, and then he strode out of the door and into the street, but not before Hinata spotted the other one throw a small black bag onto the counter. Then the two of them were mounting horses, and Hinata was seated between the first one's legs, and they pointedly ignored her muffled sobs as the horses started off at a slight trot. Then they became faster and faster and faster, until they were nothing more then a muddy brown blur, fluttering down the street._

_Hinata faintly heard her mother's scream of despair, and the pained shout of her father as Haru undoubtedly attacked him; but then the horses served around her a corner, and the sounds from her home were cut off. _

_The gag felt weird against her lips, and it took Hinata a moment to realize there was something powdery and sickly rubbed against it. Her eye lids began to slid downwards, and her body became numb, and her head titled unconsciously to the side. _

_Just before she blanked out completely, she saw her captor's hand move to their mouth, momentarily releasing the reigns, and a male voice say "We've got her." And then she knew no more._

_/_

_They were at a harbour, and a boat for Kyoto was leaving. Sayuki lead Toshiro down a number of muddy paths ways that eventually led them to the boat, but they were hidden amongst the shadows, and the only person who could see them was a middle-aged man with snowy white hair. He was waiting patiently by the ship, and his amber eyes lit up with relief and happiness upon sighting Sayuki and Toshiro. Toshiro dimly recognized the man as his sickly uncle, Ukitake Jyuushiro and his mother's elder brother._

_"Jyuushirou-nii," Sayuki hugged her brother, and Jyuushiro wrapped his thick arms about her waists, holding her close; and Sayuki abruptly pulled away and pushed Toshiro gently towards Jyuushiro._

_"Take him and go," Sayuki ordered, and Jyuushiro's eyes went wide with disbelief, and Toshiro gaped at his mother, his bewilderment sky rocketing. _

_"Kaa-chan!" He gasped. "Don't go! You have to come, too!"_

_Sayuki smiled gently, and ruffled her son's hair. "I'm afraid I cannot, Toshiro. They would find you if I came."_

_"Sayuki-chan..." Jyuushiro murmured, and his eyes filled with tears; but he hastily wiped them away. _

_"No, they won't," Toshiro said in a firm, yet desperate voice. "You can't go, Kaa-chan."_

_Sayuki just continued to smile, and pressed a kiss to his forehead; and then she gathered him in her arms and dropped him into Jyuushiro's. She darted over to where the horse stood waiting, and bravely ignored the screams of her son as she mounted and road away._

_"Kaa-chan! Kaa-chan!" _

_Jyuushiro watched until his sister was just about gone, and then turned and hurriedly made his way onto the ship. Toshiro struggled violently in his arms, forever calling for his mother, but Jyuushiro held him tightly-_

_"Stop, you! Where's the boy?"_

_Jyuushiro checked, and looked around madly, searching for the source of the voice, but Toshiro already knew where is was coming from and, taking advantage of his uncle's lapse in control, wriggled out of his grip and stumbled back out onto the path._

_Just in time to watch his mother crumble to the ground, a sword embedded in her chest, and slick, crimson blood pooling around her body. _

_Toshiro froze._

_And then Jyuushiro was there, and he snatched Toshiro's collar and hulled him back onto the boat as the black-clad figures turned and walked away, sheathing their swords as they went. Toshiro's eyes were so wide, his pupils were very nearly non-existent, his mind trying and failing to process what he had just seen._

_Then it all clicked._

_Toshiro opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Then he managed a broken whimper, a shuddering sob; and then he screamed._

_"KAA-CHAN!"_

* * *

><p><em><strong>! I own neither Bleach nor Naruto !<strong>_

**Hello :] Insanity here. Okay, at the moment I am suffered from a serve case of writer's block; but when I have writer's block, it usually prevents me from working on stories I'm ALREADY WORKING ON. So, this is what I do. I right down whatever I can think of, until I'm out of juice. I've done it millions of times, I've just never uploaded any. **

**A sad, dark, bloody Toshiro x Hinata story set in feudal Japan with a magical twist, which will come into play eventually. Now, I'm going to be blunt: I have no idea what I'm doing with this story. Not really. It's more of a help-defeat-writer's-block kinda thing, but it might develop into more. Who knows?**

**For future reference, this fic is gonna be dark and bloody, as stated before. You have been warned!**

**And for those reading _Lavender Lily_; I'm using this fic to get back on track. I can understand that might sound strange, but it's the truth.**

**Thanks for reading! Please review!**


	2. Ryu

Anyone with half a brain would have known not to go outside on a night such a this. Rain thundered against the soil and wind screamed through the streets, and lightened split the inky sky and thunder crashed at a deafening level. The rain churned up the ground and slapped and whipped at exposed skin, leaving ugly red patches that stung and throbbed. The streets were beginning to flood, as they had already long since transformed into mud. It looked as though a tsunami was falling from the heavens, rather then surging from the sea, and assaulting the tiny town of Rukongai with merciless force.

And yet, one soul was out on such a night. He was nothing more then a boy, and a small one at that, wearing a pale brown cloak with a large hod that distorted his features, and the soaking material lay heavily on his shoulders. His sandles were soaked through and through, and squelched loudly with each step he took. Water ran down his face and dripped off his chin, and the arms of his black kimono where glued to his skin, and the legs of his hakama were close following.

He stopped outside a tavern, and gently slid open the door, his movement slow and uncannily graceful. What he saw was a room full of rowdy, unruly men that stunk of sake and more sake, and were all laughing and drinking and flirting with any woman they could find. The bar tender looked particularly disgusted by his company that evening, since a great many of them were there simply to escape the rain, and the look of despair on his face only darkened upon seeing the boy enter.

"Children aren't supposed to come in here," He told the boy wearily, even as he slipped into a chair. The bar tender sighed. "But I guess you can stay. There's one heck of a storm going on out there, huh, kid?"

"Yeah." He answered shortly, and the bar tender recognized him as someone who didn't like to talk, and, with a polite nod, excused himself from the conversation, leaving the boy to his own thoughts.

The boy had barely been sitting there for ten minutes before one of the larger men decided it would be fun to mess with him, and sauntered over to his table and thrust a huge sho of sake in his direction. The boy's blazing eyes narrowed beneath the sagging folds of his hod.

"Oya, gaki!" The big brute slurred. The man was huge and his arms were built like tree trunks, and his eyes were the size of pin-heads. His cheeks were flushed a dark, crimson red, and the boy's lips curled in distaste. "You wanna drink? Go ahead! We're all men here!"

"I do not drink," The boy replied coldly.

"Ragh, don't be stupid! Drink!" The man insisted, and the boy could tell by the tone of voice that the request was quite quickly becoming an order. But he sat perfectly still and glared up at the man, his unseen eyes like daggers, and his mouth was a firm, thin line.

"No." He repeated in that same cold, emotionlessly manner, and the man's face twisted in fury and with a violent flick of his wrist, he sent the sake sho spiralling through the air and smashing against the far wall, where is exploded into a shower of sparkling alcohol and cup pieces.

"You little-!" The man snarled, and he beat his fists against the table, and the entire thing shuddered with aftershocks. The room had gone quite; most of the sober-ish men were reaching for their weapons, preparing to defend the tiny kid if they had too; some of the drunk ones were leaning in, watching the man's face swell with anger; the bar tender pretended he couldn't see anything and continued cleaning a cup that had long since begun to shine.

"I offer you some sake and you throw it right back at me!" The man shouted in drunk fury. The boy was unfazed, and met the man's flaring eyes with calm and collected ones, hidden amongst the shadows of his hod.

"I did not throw anything." He reminded the man coolly. "You, I believe, just through it at the wall."

The man snapped, and with a roar he threw the table backwards, and the boy tumbled down with his chair, his hands planting themselves firmly against the wooden floorboards. In a flash, he was back on his feet, and swung a well-aimed punch at the man's gut; and the air was knocked out of him, and he let out a strangled groan as pain seared in his stomach. He stumbled backwards, only to receive a fast kick in the face; in the shine; and then in the chest. His eyes rolled in their sockets and spit dribbled down his chin as his legs buckled beneath him, and he crumbled to the ground, the pain and the sake in his system becoming too much to bare.

"Jirou! Oh, you're gonna pay, gaki!" Another man jumped up, but this one was like a skeleton with pale, blotchy skin hanging off the bones, and his eyes had sunk grotesquely into his skull, and his hair was nothing more then a few wiry tuffs. Three more men joined him, all equally cursed with hideous facial features, and all drew katana that glinting dully in the golden candle light.

The boy sighed.

_So much for blending in, _he thought dryly, as the skeleton-man lunged at him, sword hunting for his throat, and the other three men were close behind. The boy knelt back into a defensive stance; and then he charged.

_**CRASH**_

/

"Eeek!"

Hinata squealed as lighting split the raging, stormy sky in half, and the already copious amounts of rain plummeting from the sky seemed to double in strength, thundering against the thin glass windows and battering the weakly built roof. She didn't move for several seconds; she just stood, staring at the glass as though willing the storm to vanish, before managing to shake away the lingering tendrils of fear and force her feet to move.

Her kimono whispering with her movements, Hinata hurried out of the kitchen, with glossy black pots and panned piled on the counter, and empty bowls of rice thrown carelessly across the table, and white wax candles flickering weakly in the corner, spilling watery yellow light onto the tatami mats. In the main room, almost all her fellow _maiko_ were there, lounging around and gossiping and giggling amongst themselves. One or two glanced up upon Hinata's entry, but, seeing it was no-one important, they quickly returned to their meaningless chatter.

"Hinata-chama," a sweet voice purred, and Hinata glanced over her shoulder to see Himawari Hitomi advancing towards her, smiling warmly and clad in a beautiful sunny yellow kimono that eventually turned lime green the further down the colour seeped. Her golden eyes were bright with happiness, and her pupils were elongated and thin, reminding Hinata of a cat. Her long, raven black hair was pulled up in a series of complex but elegant lops and spirals and jewel-encrusted hair pins. There were a few patches of snowy white make up still visible on her neck, but even as she walked, Hitomi brushed it away with a dirty cloth.

"Hitomi-chan," Hinata smiled back, her lavender eyes twinkling with joy, and Hitomi giggled and captured Hinata is a bar-hug.

"Today went by fast, huh?" Hitomi gushed as she led Hinata to a free tatami mat, and Hinata carefully folded her legs beneath her, cautiously patting out the silky folds of her dark purple kimono. Pale purple smoke wound its way up towards the obi, and startling bright sakura flowers danced about her waist, swirling and twirling on a breeze unseen. The jet-black outline of several birds fluttering away into the distances adorned her right shoulder, with a silver moon shinning on the left. Whereas Hitomi's hair was done up, Hinata's hair was decorated with nothing more then a crystal blue flower threaded in amongst the blue-black locks of her hair, because it was far too short to be properly dolled up. It barely reached her neck, while Hitomi's was preparing to sweep past her waist.

"H-hai." Hinata agreed, dipping her head slightly.

"Ino-oneesama was so cruel." Hitomi grumbled. "Poor Sakura-chan. She's a proper geisha, too, and yet Ino-oneesama treats her like a _minarai_, someone who just sits around and watches the other geisha work. It's just not fair."

Hinata nodded mutely. Yamanaka Ino was not a person she enjoyed thinking about. The beautiful blond geisha had long since paid off all her debts to the _okiya_, the house in which all the geisha lived, and yet she had decided to stay and drown those below her in acidic misery. And Hinata was one of Ino's favourite targets, because Hinata was only twelve and as fragile as a china vase balanced dangerously on the edge of a tipping table.

"Speaking on Ino-oneesama," a new voice snarled, and both Hitomi and Hinata jumped and snapped their heads up to see the black-haired, grey eyed Kin glaring down at them, her face, caked with make-up, twisted in disgust at the sight of Hinata's innocent gaze. "she wants to see you, Hyuuga-san. Immediately."

"O-oh." Hinata blinked sadly. "Th-thank you, K-Kin-san."

Kin responded by rolling her dark eyes and storming away, and melting into the kimono-clad crowd. Hinata stared after her in something akin to dismay, while Hitomi clicked her tongue and tugged at the locks able to wriggle free of the hair-pin's grip.

"I hate her as much as I hate Ino-oneesama." She muttered dryly. Then she snatched Hinata's hands and hulled her off the ground with a sigh. "You'd better go, Hinata-chama. Otherwise Ino-oneesama will have you whipped again."

Hinata shuddered at the memory of being stripped naked and whipped until she couldn't tell black from white, her mind so choked with pain and despair. She only suffered through punishments like that once every ten or so months, and Hinata desperately wanted it to stay that way, so she quickly bid Hitomi fair well and scampered into the hall way.

The tatami mats were cold beneath her currently bare feet, and the shoji screens seemed to glow from the golden candle light radiating form within. She passed a few people, mostly dressed in their sleeping _yutaka _or something close to it, all yawning and talking quietly and bowing politely as she passed, the favour she constantly returned. A few pot pants adorned the shadowy corners, board green leaves reaching skywards, and Hinata paused momentarily to admire their natural beauty before rushing away.

Ino's room was larger then most because she paid for everything herself, and thus had a much larger shoji screen then the others. Hinata planted herself carefully before the door and pressed her hands against the cool tatami surface, and then sat in a soft, but audible voice: "Hyu-Hyuuga Hinata has a-arrived, as r-requested by I-Ino-oneesama."

After a few silent moments, Ino's silvery voice wafted out from the room within, light and cheery, and yet Hinata could not help but tense her muscles in fright.

"Enter."

Obediently, Hinata slid the door open but remained firmly planted on the floor, quickly falling back into the respectful bowing position, with her eyes burning holes into the tatami mats. The what should have been incredible aroma of Ino's expensive perfumes attacked her nose all at once, a thousand different scents swirling together to make something akin to the putrid stink of greasy, mud-choked swamp, and Hinata fought to keep her eyes from watering.

"Good evening, Hinata-chan." Ino murmured in her silky voice from across the room. Hinata didn't dare raise her head, but managed a quite "G-good e-evening, I-Ino-onees-s-sama."

"I need you to get something for me." Ino informed the girl, and Hinata heard her kimono rustle as the elder woman stood and moved across the room, followed by the whispering squeak of her cupboard being pushed open. A moment later, a paper umbrella was dropped by her side, one with dark red roof with glossy black flowers painted with expert detail along the edges. Hinata glanced at it curiously, confused.

"W-what w-would you l-like me to g-get, Ino-o-oneesama?" Hinata inquired.

"I want- Oh, rise already." Ino ordered, and Hinata did so slowly, folding her hands into her lap and dipping her head respectfully at the professional geisha. She was wearing a brilliant blue kimono with sleeves that trailed across the ground as she walked, and a blinding bright obi of silvery white silk. Koi swam playfully about the hem and butterflies flew casually across her shoulders and waist and chest. The obi was painted with the faint outline of snow falling calmly from a silvery-grey sky.

Hinata risked a glance at the open cupboard, capturing a brief glimpse of Ino's personal possessions and wardrobe, before the door was brutally slammed shut and cut off from Hinata's vision from an impatient slap of Ino's hand. Hinata's eyes flickered away and filtered across the room.

Ino's room was, Hinata noted, surprisingly bare. She had a fluffy futon folded up in the corner, and some scroll paintings dangling off the walls, and what seemed like a ridiculous amount of multi-coloured sandles arranged neatly in the corner, but other then that, the room was about empty.

Ino seated her down before Hinata,, and did not bother to return the nod. Instead, she pointed at the umbrella.

"I want you to get some shoes on, take that umbrella and go buy me some sake." She instructed, and stuffed some money into Hinata's hands while the girl openly gawked at the geisha, her eyes wide with disbelief. "Go immediately."

But Hinata did not move for some time, and instead took to staring, wide-eyed, at the elder geisha. Her mind was struggling to absorb the haunting information it had just received and Hinata could do little more then gap in utter bewilderment. Ino expected her to go outside in weather that ripped the roofs of houses? Was she mad?

"What are you still doing here?" Ino growled. "Go get me something to drink!" As she finished the sentence, a particularly deafening burst of thunder hammered against Hinata's ear drums, and the sound of startled squealing drifted down from the _maiko_ quarters. Ino's lips curled into an amused grin that somehow resembled a grimace.

"B-but..." Hinata whimpered. "t-the storm..."

"Sorry?" Ino snapped impatiently. "You're not going to carry out this simply request just because it's _raining?_ I taught you everything I know, and yet you treat me like dirt!"

That was incorrect. The only thing Ino ever taught Hinata was how to deal with massive amount of red-hot pain, but Hinata knew that, in Ino's mind, it didn't matter. All that mattered was Hinata's blooming refusal, and Hinata knew that, before she could even muster another feeble protest, Ino would have her tied naked to a pole for the next hour, the black whip carving trenches into her back.

"F-forgive me," Hinata mumbled, bowing her head again. "I-I will go i-immediately."

Ino smiled. "Good girl! Oh, and remember to return the umbrella when you're done. Dismissed."

Hinata trudged away, and slowly tied up her sandles while Hitomi whined about how unfair the whole situation was. She offered to accompany Hinata, but Hinata refused and insisted she would be fine.

"Are you sure, Hinata-chama?" Hitomi demanded hotly as Hinata observed the rain splattering harshly against the muddy earth, and the thunder growing menacingly in the distance, and the lightning shooting across the inky black sky. It was very nearly pitch black, save for the few luminous hues of candle light spewing from the windows and beneath doors of near by taverns and homes. The sake shop was about thirteen houses away, a short trip on a good day, but a horribly lengthy one on a stormy night such as this. Hinata was sadly confident she would be soaked to the bone the moment she stepped out into the street, with or without the flimsy paper umbrella. It wasn't built for this sort of weather.

"I-I'll b-be f-fine, Hitomi-ch-chan." Hinata smiled reassuringly at her golden-eyed friend. "You d-don't n-need to w-worry."

"I know that, but, Hinata-chama-"

"Hitomi!" A sharp voice called, and Hinata instantly recognized it as Kin's. "Ino-oneesama wants you! Get in here!"

"Drat!" Hitomi cursed, her golden eyes blazing with anger. "I really hate Ino-oneesama! Hinata-chama, be really, _really _careful, okay?" Hinata nodded in silent agreement, and watched as Hitomi bolted off down the corridor, leaving Hinata to brave the mini-typhoon alone. Dread bubbled in the pit of Hinata's stomach as she watched her friend's form vanish into the darkness of the hallway; somewhere inside, she'd been hoping Hitomi would brush aside Hinata's protests and come with her anyway.

As Hinata had previous assumed, she was drenched the second she stepped outside, and shuddered of cold rippled through her body as she hurriedly set up the paper umbrella and hobbled down the street, clutching the wooden staff. The umbrella sagged heavily, weighed down by the sheer amount of water, and water dripped rhythmically onto her shoulder and tickled down the soaked kimono. Hinata's sandles felt like lead, they were so choked with water, and she wondered why she even bothered to put them on.

As she neared one of the nosiest taverns, she heard a loud crash, followed by some obviously enraged shouting and painful thumps. The sound of katana being drawn put Hinata's teeth on edge, and her feet clamped down, rooting her to the stop. The sounds of fighting were growing steadily louder and Hinata suddenly shivered at the thought of moving any closer. Maybe if she just waited for things to settle down...but then wouldn't the drunken men be thrown outside? Hinata wasn't fully grown, but drunk, wife-less farmers were known to do some disgust things if they'd sculled down enough sake.

_I'll go back and wait a little while, _Hinata decided, and she made to turn around and hurry back to the okiya when suddenly the windows shattered with a deafening _kssssssshhhhhh_ and Hinata felt as though the world was in slow motion as she watched a boy no older then her, clad in a flapping black cloak, kicked a grown man to the ground.

And then the world sped up again as the man's body slapped against the ground, unconscious, and the door was bolted off its hinges as three more ugly men stumbled through, each brandishing his own glinting weapon. Within seconds they were soaked to their skin, but none let the rain hinder their movements, and the three men dived at the boy, who ducked low and kicked out the fat one's shines. Fat-guy stumbled and managed to right himself, but was sent sprawling in the dirt from a hard, well-aimed jab to the chest and follow-up kick in the chin, courtesy of the boy.

A man who resembled a skeleton charged in after Fat-guy, with a bald, one-eyed man surging after him, and they attacked as one, but the boy skidded between Skeleton-guy's legs and knocked them out from under him. One-guy brought his spear swinging down towards the boy's head, but he rolled away and leapt up, balancing himself in less then a second and then bouncing away as Fat-guy, having recovered, attempted to break his noise with a punch in the face.

Hinata stood, still as a stature and her mouth flapping stupidly, as the fight raged on right in front of her. She had lost control of her body; her arms and legs and brain had all shut down, leaving her glued to the spot and unable to to anything but stare in utter astonishment as a _twelve-year old boy _battled men twice his size, all of which were armed, while he was not. Something in the back of Hinata's mind suggested that she help the boy somehow; get him a weapon, distract his enemies, something, anything. But Hinata's body was too numb with shock to comply.

The boy kicked off the wall, and both his feet smashed squarely into Fat-guy's face, and the man tumbled to the ground, causing mud to spray into the air. Another man, a scrawny one who seemed to lack a single muscles, scurried out of the tavern at that moment, and was instantly coated with the slug. He let out a growl of disgust, but swallowed down his protests when he realized what was going on and fled from Skeleton-guy's path, as he and One-guy pounced at the boy like starved hyena, closing in on the kill. Surprised, the boy was only able to avoid Skeleton-guy, but One-guy's spear sliced into his forearm, and blood spurted from the wound.

Hinata was jolted out of her stunned trance at the sight of the slick, crimson liquid, and cried out loud, her face draining of colour. The blood streamed down his arm and stained the black cloth of his kimono, but was almost immediately washed away by the monstrous rains. Hinata knew she had to help him now. If he continued to fight at the pace he was without dealing with the wound, he'd simply die of blood loss-

And suddenly a muddy hand clamped over her mouth and muffled her scream, and the umbrella dropped from her grip as she raised her hands to claw at the arm restraining her. Another snaked its way around her waist and tugged at the kimono, and the dirty fingers danced lower, causing a heated blush to form on Hinata's cheeks.

"Heh heh. You're cute." A voice chuckled in her ear, and damp, mouldy breath caressed her neck, and Hinata shivered violently. "This isn't something a little lady like you needs to see, Ojo-chan. How 'bout you come with me and we'll find something _fun_ to do? Heh heh..."

Hinata felt tears swell in her eyes, and she began to thrash around, trying and failing to injury the man in some way. But Hinata had never been all that strong. She was a geisha-in-training, not some rebellious female samurai, and the man easily overpowered her. He began to drag her down the street, away from the fight; One-guy was struggling to keep a grip on the boy's arms, and Skeleton-guy was clutching his nose, blood gushing between his fingers.

"Damn. You." Skeleton-guy snarled, and he reached for his katana and thrust it menacingly towards the boy's partly covered face. "I'm gonna enjoy cutting you to pieces, kid."

The boy gritted his teeth like a growling dog in response, and gave a sudden jerk of his shoulder, causing One-guy to skid side-ways. The boy's foot lashed out and crashed into One-guy's knee-cap, and One-guy let out a howl of pain, his eye popping. The boy tried to wriggle away while One-guy was distracted, but the man recovered at a shocking speed and held the boy's arms tightly.

"What a rude little boy," The drunk man dragging Hinata away remarked. "That's not how you should treat your elders. He's so rude, unlike you, Ojo-chan..." But Hinata was no longer listening. She was looking down, down at his belt, where a shiny dagger gleaming. A plan formed quickly in her mind.

The man's fingers were right over her mouth, and Hinata opened her jaw wide and slammed her teeth down into his skin, ripping through the flesh. His blood, salty and warm, gushed into her mouth. The man gave a sudden shriek of pain and immediately jumped away, and Hinata released his hand and whipped round. Her hand found the hilt of the dagger and she wrenched it out of his belt with a swift tug.

"Ojo-chan!" The man snarled, and he lunged at her, and Hinata screamed in terror. She turned and ran as fast as she could, but the man was fast and caught up with her quickly. He tripped on some mud, but managed to snag hold of her kimono, and with a cry, Hinata fell down with him, and the dagger flew from her hand and clattered towards the brawling men. Her attacker's hands flickered across her body, and left no patch of skin untouched. He massaged her curves and prodded breasts, and Hinata began to sob. The man saddled her, sitting so she was trapped between his legs, and snatched her shoulders and pushed the hard against the mud.

"Heh heh. You rude little ojo-chan." He snickered. "And here I was thinking you were a well-mannered lady." He smirked cruelly. "Guess I'll have to teach you a listen now, won't I? Little ojo-chan-"

Something whistled through the air and, with a blood-chilling squelch, embedded itself in the man's chest. His victory speech was cut off abruptly as his eyes went wide, and blood pooled across his shirt and painted his teeth. His beady black eyes glazed over, and his body sagged, and fell lifeless and limp against Hinata. She would have screamed, but her voice was lodged firmly in her throat, and the most she could do was throw the body off and crawl away, her eyes wide as moons.

The guy was dead. _Dead._ Someone had killed him. And not with just some random weapon, Hinata realized, as nausea washed over her. Bile rose in her throat and she covered her mouth with both hands, and her entire frame began to quake with shudders. He'd been slaughtered with his own _knife!_ Hinata vomited into the mud, and the rain hurriedly covered it with grim and water, and it had all but vanished within moments.

Hinata heard a grunt of pain, and looked up, her movements hesitant and shaky, to see Skeleton-man collapse in a heap, beside his one-eyed friend. Both were covered in paper-thin scars that seeped blood and blotchy purple-blue bruises, with murky yellow highlights lining the edges. The boy's cloak was torn and his arm was bleeding heavily; but he was still standing, still breathing.

He limped towards her, gripping his bleeding arm.

"You alright, girl?" He asked, and his voice was surprisingly low and serious for someone so young.

Hinata didn't speak. She just nodded.

"Good." The boy sighed.

And then, quite abruptly, he keeled over and slumped against the ground.

"Bozu-san!" Hinata cried and she crawled to his side, placing her shaking hands on his shoulders and steadying his swaying frame. Hinata studied his arm through the pouring rain, and saw that it was much deeper then she had previously believed, and blood was gushing freely from the break in skin and tendons. It must have been agonizing, and Hinata felt sick just looking at it.

"B-bozu-s-san, p-please l-lean on me," Hinata stammered, her face white as a sheet, and after a moment of hesitation, the boy did as requested, and Hinata, summoning up all her remaining strength, hulled him up onto his feet. His legs wobbled and he winced with pain, but clutched Hinata's shoulder and kept himself upright.

Together, they limped towards the okiya, but at the last second, Hinata changed her mind and steered him towards the ally way. She helped him down onto the ground, and then told him to wait, and rushed back down the street. She hammered her fist against the door of someone's home, praying to every god in the sky that they would help her, and after a few, tense moments, the door opened a crack, and a mousey, brown-haired boy peered through the gap.

"H-hello?" He stuttered.

"Please help me!" Hinata exclaimed and she bowed low, causing the boy to yelp in surprise. "Bozu-san s-saved me and h-he's b-badly hurt! P-please help!"

The boy blinked in stunned confusion, but then nodded hastily anyway, and allowed Hinata to lead him to the ally way, where they helped the boy up and into the house. It was a warm house, with clean tatami mats and scroll paintings covering the walls, and a closest just bursting to the brims with herbs. They gently laid the boy down on the tatami mats, and the brown-haired youth sprinted away, disappearing further into the house, yelling "I'll be a minute!" over his shoulder.

"I-I'm Hyuuga Hinata," Hinata told the brown haired boy when he returned with a basket full of bandages and herbs and pins.

"Y-Yamada Hanatarou," He replied, and then Hanatarou set about caring to the wounded boy's arm. It was a tedious process that had Hinata gripping the soft fabric of her kimono until her knuckles shone white. The boy, however, seemed to have gotten used to the pain, and only flinched when Hanatarou's trembling hands slipped, or his arms were jerked forwards too quickly. After what seemed like a thousand years, Hanatarou announced his arm was properly bandaged, and stood to fetch him a blanket.

"H-Hinata-san, take his wet clothes off, okay?" Hanatarou requested, and it took Hinata a few seconds to realize what he'd just asked of her. "He'll f-freeze. I'll go get o-one of my yutaka."

"A-ah-u-um-...uwwaaahh..." Hinata blushed beet red as Hanatarou slipped into his bed room and began hunting about for some spare clothing. Hinata sat motionless for some time, but gradually forced herself to look around. The boy hadn't moved, not even a twitch, and his chest was steadily rising and falling, rising and falling...Hinata swallowed hard.

"U-um..." She stammered, and the boy's tired eyes searched for her face from beneath the cloak's hod. "I-I-I...u-um...p-please s-s-s-sit u-u-u-up..." Hinata reached out, her arms trembling visibly, and gently pulled the boy into sitting position. Then she timidly tugged at the dripping cloak, and, her movements slow and cautious, she slid the hod off his head, and gasped as unruly, silvery white spikes of hair spilled out across his shoulders, and the most incredible blue-green eyes she'd ever seen appeared, with water rolling down his cheeks and trailing off his chin.

Hinata had never seen such beautiful eyes. Such deep, intelligent, wise blue-green eyes. There were so many layers; a splash of pale blue, a sprinkle of sea-green, a splatter of aqua, a layer of lime. His eyes were cold and dark, and yet swam with emotions, anger and grief and happiness all churning into one breath-taking mass of colour. Hinata couldn't help but stare in awe.

"...eh..." The boy's thin eye brow twitched in annoyance, and he shifted uneasily, slightly unnerved by her blink-less stare that burned into his eyes. "What is it..?"

Hinata blushed a shade of red unknown to man, and squeaked as she realized what she was doing.

"I-I'm sorry!" She gasped and bowed her head, blushing furiously. "I-I'm v-v-very, v-very sorry!"

The boy grunted. "It's alright. Just quit staring. And I can't undress myself." He grumbled, and Hinata's blush darkened even further.

"O-of course. I-I'll...u-um..."

"Look away?" He suggested dryly.

Hinata shot up and nodded vigorously. "H-hai!"

She swivelled round and buried her head in her hands, blushing like mad, and tried desperately to ignore the gurgling _thump _of his drenched, soggy clothes smacking wetly against the mats. Hanatarou returned then, and handed the boy his yutaka, and sat a sea-green kimono and plain white yutaka at Hinata's feet.

"Eh?" Hinata blinked in confusion.

"Y-You're cold, too, right, Hinata-san?" Hanatarou asked, smiling timidly, and Hinata realized, with a shudder, he was quite right. She excused herself from the room and stripped herself of the soaked kimono and wrestling into the fresh one, and relished in the sudden wave of warmth that swept over her icy arms, sending thrilling chills rippling through her skin. The kimono was a little big for her, but the yutaka was about the right size and kept everything in place. She tied the pale blue obi tightly about her waist, and patted everything down before returning to where the boys sat talking quietly and enjoying some green tea.

"Would you like some tea, Hinata-san?" Hanatarou asked, indicating a steaming cup with a slight tilt of his head.

"H-hai. Th-thank you," Hinata murmured, and she took a long, drawn out sip of the warming tea, and sighed deeply. A warm kimono on top of some warm tea. Utter bliss.

"U-um..." Hinata looked towards the boy with silver hair and turquoise eyes, and stared into his face. His skin was regaining some colour, since Hanatarou had stopped the bleeding and given him something for the pain. "I-I'm Hyuuga H-Hinata. Th-thank you for s-saving me e-earlier."

The boy's cool eyes seemed to study her like a piece of art work for several moment, the cogs in his mind ticking almost audibly, before he answered.

"You're welcome, Hyuuga, though I also owe you thanks...I'm Ryu."

* * *

><p><em><strong>! I own neither Bleach nor Naruto !<strong>_

**Chap. One is complete. Anyone else pick up the MAJOR over use of the words 'quickly', 'several' and 'tugged' ? Pfft. It was a little forced in some paces, but still fun to write. Poor Hinata-chan, though. Getting molested like that ;P**

**More of what happened to Hinata as a child and who Hanatarou is will be revealed in the next chapter. And in case it wasn't clear, Hinata is twelve, so is Ryu, both going on thirteen, and Hanatarou would probably be thirteen going on fourteen. **

**Also, just so everyone knows: a geisha is a female entertainer. In modern times, you have to be eighteen to become one, fifteen in some places, but back then girls were often sold into okiya houses when they were as young as three or five. A _minarai_ is the a girl who is taken in by her mentor, her _oneesama_ or 'Older Sister' as they were called, and watches the other geisha work. Then they become a _maiko_, who actually being training as a geisha. Hinata and Hitomi are both _maiko,_ basically apprentices. There might be another two or three stages to the geisha training process, but I've decided to leave them out. Ino is a fully-fledged geisha who no longer has any debts to the okiya; because geisha training coats so much, girls training there often build up debts, and have to pay them all back before she can leave and entertain else where. Ino is addressed as Ino-oneesama by Hinata and the others because she is seen as a mentor, albeit a cruel one. **

**Yutaka are thin kimono that are often slept in or worn underneath regular kimono by both men and women (I think...feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). Hakama, I've discovered, are actually a form of pants that are traditionally worn only by men, but are now worn by both sexes. Men's hakama come to the waist line, but women usually wear these at the bust line. Obi are the sashes women and men wear around their waists, though women's are generally much more colourful and tied in much more elaborate knots.**

**If you haven't already picked it up, I'm having a lot of fun reading about old Japan (as sexiest as it was...).**

**Ryu = _dragon_**

**Hai = _yes_**

**Gaki = _brat_**

**Bozu = _boy _[ I think...]**

**Thanks for reading! Please review!**


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